Burnt Offerings

by Robert Marasco

Book Overview

One of the scariest haunted house novels ever written, "Burnt Offerings" chronicles the story of Ben and his family renting a house out in the New York countryside, and the horror that unfolds there.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340173661
• ISBN13: 9780340173664
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Delacorte
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Love the Classics

Enjoy reading and owning this book.

Perfection in Horror

This here's about as perfect as horror fiction gets. I'd rank it up there with some of the best horror novels ever, as many other folk do as well. Certainly as good as my favorite, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson. Stephen King argues this one is the best, and in some ways it does beat Hill House. Loved this book. Too bad the film version was so awful. It really deserves to be remade into a better film.

REALLY SCARY!!!!!!

This book sent chills up my spine. Although no evil entity is actually shown, it is very apparent that dark forces are very evident.

Classic horror novel.

Ben and Marian Rolfe are anxious to get out of the city. They've had it with noisy neighbors, traffic, and the heat. Along with their young boy, they search for an old house to spend the summer in the country. They find what appears to be an absolute dreamhouse, at an amazing price. So what if the owners seem like they're absolute crackers? And the old woman who will stay in the upstairs room won't be a burden, will she? Naaahhhh. So the knuckleheaded family settles into this creepy mansion and find themselves prey to some dark force that permeates the house. And hell hath no fury like the crazy old broad in the upstairs room...This is a classic from the old school of horror. Stephen King cited it as an influence on his masterwork THE SHINING and I could see several similarities. And like that classic, this is a kind of slo-motion slide into madness that really creeps into your psyche while you read it. Highly recommended for horror fans who want to appreciate the old school stuff.

Seminal Horror Classic

In his book on the horror genre, Stephen King's Danse Macabre, Stephen King graciously acknowledges this masterpiece as a precursor to his own "The Shining." Both books are about an Evil Place that devours a family. Marasco's classic because is quieter, more insidious, and ultimately more frightening on a deeper level. We only get glimpses of what is really happening: even the title is an unexplained allusion, although its meaning becomes horrifyingly more clear as the novel progresses. Shirley Jackson came close to this with "The Haunting of Hill House." I am also reminded of the numberless victims throughout history of forces beyond their control--people who were destroyed in wars and purges without ever understanding why. Perhaps that is Marasco and King's real subject. My favorite detail: the eyeglasses found in the pool, with the hole in the lens as if punctured by a sharp instrument. Chilling, indeed.